Black Hole Swallows Up a Star

Posted on Aug 25, 2011

Scientists say that, for the first time, they have witnessed a black hole swallowing a distant star.

The event took place about 3.9 billion years ago in a distant galaxy in the constellation Draco. Radiation from the blast just reached Earth in March, its “intense” and “unusual high-energy flares” alerting scientists that something big was happening.

Watch the power of the universe in the animation below, depicting what scientists saw when the black hole “shredded” and “consumed” the star. —BF